Wild weather expected during NFL Wild-Card Games this weekend

The Kansas City Chiefs play the Miami Dolphins at home on Saturday night in what will likely be “dangerously cold temperatures,” but your sympathies should probably be directed toward the visiting team.

According to the region, a wind chill warning will be in effect from Friday evening through Tuesday afternoon National Weather Service. The wind chill will be 15 to 35 degrees below zero on Saturday, Sunday and Monday evenings, the service predicted, and temperatures will be “well below zero.”

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has generally played well in inclement weather, and the Dolphins have practiced most of the week in South Florida, although Kansas City coach Andy Reid told reporters earlier this week, “You can't rely on that calculate. That's where you get into trouble. We are not having a snowball fight.”

The forecast calls for the highest temperature in Kansas City to be 5 degrees on Saturday afternoon, although that could change before kickoff at 8 p.m. Eastern time. At least the dolphins hope so.

The cold temperatures arrive as teams begin to compete in the wild card round of the NF.L. playoffs. The Buffalo Bills play the Pittsburgh Steelers at home on Sunday afternoon a winter storm watch that predicts snow and high winds expected to start Saturday afternoon and last until Monday morning.

But football fans don't have to worry too much. They know, especially in Buffalo, that games go on in almost any weather.

In 2022, the Bills clinched a playoff berth against the Dolphins in a snowstorm on a 70-degree day as shirtless Buffalo fans had snowball fights. A month earlier, however, the Bills were forced to move a home game against the Cleveland Browns to Ford Field in Detroit because their stadium was snowed under.

It remains to be seen whether conditions for Saturday and Sunday's wild-card games will surpass some of the toughest ever: the 1948 championship game in Philadelphia when there was so much snow that the yard markings were difficult to make out. For trivia fans, the Eagles defeated the Chicago Cardinals 7-0 in that game to win their first championship.

In 1970, during the NFL championship game in Minnesota, Browns defensive tackle Walter Johnson lost feeling in one hand while playing in 8-degree weather. Players have a number of ways to combat the cold, including hand muffs with warmers and heated insoles.